Zim Eats Waffles
"Zim Eats Waffles" is the twenty-second episode of Invader Zim, the eighth episode of Season Two, and originally premiered on December 30, 2003. Plot Summary Using an active camouflage device, Dib gets past the lawn gnome sentries in front of Zim's house, hoping to get a spy camera in his base. However he is discovered by GIR at the front door after GIR splashes his drink on Dib, rendering his invention useless. In a bid to use the robot's incompetence to his own advantage, Dib asks the robot to place the camera for him, which GIR happily does. Back at his house, Dib jumps to his computer, eager to see what Zim is up to. Multiple computer drives are set up around Dib's room, but they are in the process of being fixed. Just as Dib sets up the connection, Zim declares he is going to explain his "next evil plan". Dib calls Agent Darkbootie, but all Zim and GIR do for the next couple of minutes is eat breakfast. Darkbootie gets impatient and hangs up, stating that "jokes have no place in the Swollen Eyeball Network". At that moment, GIR comes into the kitchen with a huge plate of waffles, intended for Zim's consumption. The Irken initially refuses but a tantrum courtesy of GIR quickly makes Zim agree to try them. Upon eating them, Zim is surprised to find them edible for him, and decides to eat waffles to build up a tolerance for Earth food. After several minutes of awkward silence, one of Zim's experiments, a flesh-eating demon squid, escapes and starts attacking Zim. The house security activates, sending robots and firing lasers, and even the Roboparents try to help, only to have their heads ripped off. Dib quickly calls for another Swollen Eyeball Agent, but by the time Agent Nessie answers, everything has moved off-screen and all that is visible is GIR sitting on the table eating waffles. After the agent angrily hangs up, Zim limps back on screen, looking worse for wear; however, he isn't very upset, as the squid wasn't part of his plan. Instead, Zim orders GIR to bring him Nick. Upon seeing that the alien has a human test subject, Dib calls the SEN again, but they hang up on him right away. So, Dib calls the FBI, and convinces them to send someone over on account of the giant brain probe in Nick's head. To buy the FBI some time, Dib orders pizza from Bloaty's Pizza Hog and sends it to Zim's house. Meanwhile, GIR is still continuously feeding both Zim and Nick a never-ending supply of waffles, now containing peanuts and soap. Unfortunately for Dib, Zim is about to test his evil plan on Nick, but the hideous mutant squid escapes again, and has created an army of cyborg zombie soldiers to do its evil bidding. While Zim is getting beat up, the squid knocks him into the camera, knocking it onto its side. From the shadows on the wall and Nick's commentary, Dib can see that the FBI and the pizza deliverer are there, but aren't any help. Eventually, Zim defeats the squid and his army of minions with a plunger. By the time Dib contacts Bootie, everything is all over and GIR and Nick have resumed their waffle-eating. It's at this moment that Dib's computer drives complete repairs and are able to record again. Zim reappears on the skewed screen, but at this point he has forgotten what his evil plan was, and proceeds to regurgitate the feast of waffles into a proper disposal bucket. Dib is glad he at least has something recorded, but then the cyborg zombie soldiers burst into his room and destroy the computer drives. Shocked and frustrated at how his day's toil has been all for nothing, Dib screams "Noooooo!!!!" for about two seconds, and then goes to bed. Soundtrack of Doom See Main Article: The Kevin Manthei Invader Zim-phony Special The following tracks from this episode are from the Invader Zim Promotion Disc, and are in order, as follows: *Super Waffles Plays during the title sequence. *Next Evil Plan Plays when Dib first enters his room and when he tries to contact The Swollen Eyeball Network. Facts of Doom Cultural references *Nick is believed to have been a character to poke fun at Nickelodeon, due to them always trying to make the show "happier", and more appealing to certain groups. *Zim's weapon in the game Globs of Doom (a plunger) is a possible reference to this episode, due to the part where Zim is holding up a plunger and saying "Don't make me use this! I'll do it!". Trivia *This is the second and last aired episode where GIR is seen with waffles, the first being "Bestest Friend". *This episode appears on the Volume 3: Horrible Holiday Cheer DVD. *According to the creators of the show, Zim could eat GIR's waffles because he made them with Irken ingredients. **This contradicts with the fact that Zim seems to think eating the waffles (which he deems "not so bad") will help him build a tolerance to human food. *This is the only episode where the entire episode name does not appear all at once (each individual word races to the screen). Also, the screen racing through space to Zim's house is similar to "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars". *According to the commentary, this was a "throwaway" episode that the crew made so they could save up money for bigger episodes, mainly "The Trial" and possibly "Invader Dib". *This episode never aired on Nickelodeon in the US, but it has aired on Nicktoons Network. **At the same time, the US never had this episode released until 2006, unlike other countries which had it years earlier, such as Australia in 2003. *Originally the episode was intended to be one long shot, the view panning between Dib`s reaction and the computer screen, but this proved to be too taxing to animate. *Zim's test subject sounds a lot different then his appearance in "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff". Things You Might Have Missed *Behind Greg (the FBI guy) is "The FBI" in big bubble letters. *Listen carefully when the demon squid picks up the microwave. It dings before he hits Zim with it. *You can see planet Blorch (the planet which Invader Skoodge conquered) in the beginning. *When Zim and GIR sit in silence and the camera pans to Dib, a picture of an Irken-like alien can be seen pasted to Dib's wall. *When Dib first logs on to his computer, the Mysterious Mysteries poster has a misspelling. Mysteries is spelled Mysterys. But when they turn the camera to show Dib's face, it is spelled correctly. *While the demon squid is attacking Zim on-screen, GIR is seen eating two waffles and then vomiting continuously. Animation errors *After Dib's room is trashed by the robots and they start to leave, the ones in the background aren't animated at all. *When GIR wheels in Nick, the handlebars on Nick's thing on are taller than later in the episode. *The animation of the milk puddle around GIR's bowl of cereal messes up when the animation loops. *Right after Dib yells, "Come on! The plan already!" his eyes go through his glasses. See also *Zim Eats Waffles Screenshots *Zim Eats Waffles (Transcript) Concept Art Alexovich Robots zombie.jpg References es:Zim Come Waffles Category:Season 2 Category:Dib Filmography Category:GIR Filmography Category:Zim Filmography Category:Episodes Category:Screenshots